Black Crown will go offline on Halloween

From Halloween this year, Black Crown will no longer be available. Our contract with Random House has come to an end, and that seemed like an appropriate last day. It also leaves four weeks to finish exploring the story and to spend Nex there, should you wish to.edited by Flyte on 10/3/2014

What a shame! I really enjoyed playing Black Crown - it was creepy good fun, if a little baffling at times, and so inventive and original. I presume there's a good reason it can't just stay on Storynexus, but it seems a real pity to lose it.

Oh no! How unfortunate I've really enjoyed the story and game play. Definitely off the beaten trail and surprisingly deep and grotesque. Love it! Guess I better try and figure out how to finish the game.edited by LadyPrincePyro on 10/22/2014

This game resonated with me in ways that I don't think I can properly articulate. I don't really understand why a narrative dealing with things I personally find horrifying made me feel so much. I truly will miss this game, and knowing it's gone, it's like a part of the last two years of my life is gone. There are a lot of personal reasons the game is important to me, and I'm going to miss it on Storynexus a lot. I'm hoping to see it again in another form soon, but I'm glad to have had it at all.

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I am very late to this news, but I was looking forwards to returning to Black Crown eventually after trying it a rather long while ago.. for some reason it's always stuck in the back of my head, despite not playing for very long. I do hope something similar resurfaces.

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Black Crown was an interesting game, quirky, mechanically interesting, and often super gross or just plain strange. It relied heavily on living stories. The whole thing was just a bunch of timers constantly going off and allowing you to advance once every so many days. I wouldn't say it failed so much as it had costs to maintain (timers break, lots of moving parts etc) and there comes a point where constant bleed stops being sustainable after a game with a definitive ending has been out and published for a long time with no further updates.

I remember being deeply disturbed by the Black Crown experience. SMEN is a good night story for little children compared to it.

I can't have played more than 20-25% of its content at the time before deciding that it wasn't for me at all. I don't remember many particulars, but that world made me feel emotionally and physically unwell. I would even say I was repulsed by it. (here's an example of the game's art)

Mind you, the writing must've been excellent - only excellent writing can elicit such a strong emotional response, whether positive or negative!

There was a very disquieting short story called &quotLincoln's Bedsheet&quot which worked as a tie-in or prequel. You can still read that here.

Apart from that, I think Zero's link (and the links from that link) tell you all you need to know.

Jesus Christ. I was so repulsed and incensed by the time I got to the end of that story I wanted to punch the author in the nose. And possibly take out a $5.00 bill and stab Lincoln's face repeatedly with an ice pick :P

Good writing, but......UGH. I literally wish I hadn't read it. I can see why the game did NOT appeal to you.

I remember being deeply disturbed by the Black Crown experience. SMEN is a good night story for little children compared to it.

I can't have played more than 20-25% of its content at the time before deciding that it wasn't for me at all. I don't remember many particulars, but that world made me feel emotionally and physically unwell. I would even say I was repulsed by it. (here's an example of the game's art)

Mind you, the writing must've been excellent - only excellent writing can elicit such a strong emotional response, whether positive or negative!

There was a very disquieting short story called &quotLincoln's Bedsheet&quot which worked as a tie-in or prequel. You can still read that here.

Apart from that, I think Zero's link (and the links from that link) tell you all you need to know.

I could not bring myself to like Black Crown, though it had the quality writing characteristic of all of Failbetter's Games. I think part of my problem with the game was not the creepiness, but the feeling that even if the game ever reached a final resolution, it would be of a nature that would not feel like a resolution to me.

&quotLast year the author released all the game’s content on Github under a free, non-commercial license, including all text, images, and metadata as well as early drafts and design notes. Turning these thousands of pieces back into a playable game (or perhaps a different playable game) is an exercise left to the reader: at least one attempt has already appeared.&quot

Cheers and gotta love Medium for their great articles (for me at least)!

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